SERVE India

Reaching the Unreached.

Thank you for continuing to pray for John in India. He has been busy, as usual! He has been hearing very encouraging reports from all of the places the team visited in Jan, all softening hearts to the Truth. We are so grateful! Please continue to pray for John for wisdom & the Lord’s clear guidance for many decisions that are coming up concerning the land sale, the teacher training school, & the purchase of a fishing boat for one of the fishing villages that was affected by the cyclone.
Thank you for praying! We are so grateful for you all!
His joy, Love,
The Nanda’s

Thoughts on our trip from another team member, Cassidy…

Our last meal together in India the team went around the table and shared one highlight and one challenge of our time together. This was difficult, as so often the highlights are little moments that are significant, yet hard to put into words. Little connections with the Indian people where I felt understood, and there was a recognition between two people despite the language barrier and limited time. When the sights, smells, sounds, tastes, and grit of India would wrap around me and I marveled at how God created these different cultures intentionally to glorify Him. Details that were worked out in such perfect timing that I wondered how some people don’t see God, when He is right in front of us, all the time. Laughter and love the team shared that is unique, and like India, so hard to explain.
With this disclaimer, one highlight that I will try to put into words is the church’s growth I’ve seen span over the four times I’ve been able to serve in India. On my first trip to India, in 2007, we visited a remote tribal village to support a pastor that would ride his bike along a winding, pitted, dirt road to share Biblical promises with these villagers. I remember visiting that primitive village, and while the people were welcoming, there was a hesitance that comes with unknown people and unknown teaching. I remember sitting on beds the people had hauled out of their homes while we taught about the story of Jonah to a crowd of men, women, and children that listened intently. This year we went back to that same village to attend a pastors training conference that was being held in their church to help equip local pastors that would hike into the mountainous tribal areas to preach the gospel to people who have never heard it. We witnessed more than 10 baptisms at the conference, sang songs of praise together, listened to teaching from each other, and shared a meal at the church with around 100-150 men, women, and children that were involved in the conference. The village felt like a completely different village.
There are other stories like this. Of churches I remember praying over while they were still a shell, waiting to be finished and filled, that this year we sat through a packed church service with all these brown faces of brothers and sisters of Christ staring back at us. Or children we’ve seen get bigger with each year run to greet us and then lead the songs of worship in church services. Or widows, that seem to get tinier each year, hobble out to great us and hug us goodbye. God is alive in India, and I can’t wait until the day that the global church will be able to worship our King in one tongue, as one body.
There were challenges as well, mostly what God was teaching me and working out in me. But since this is getting long, I think I’ll share those another time.
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for praying for us over these last several months and for your continued support as we start preparing for next year’s young adult trip. It is a wonderful, humbling thing to have complete assurance that we are wrapped in your prayer and love through all of this.